Category Archives: Coworking Europe conference

The fourth Coworking Europe Conference, organised by Global Enterprise and the Xarxa Punt TIC of the Government of Catalonia will take place on November 11, 12 and 13 in Barcelona.

The last years, Coworking became a global phenomenon. Nowadays, more than 2.500 spaces have opened in the world. The number is doubling every year. One hundred of them are operating in Barcelona alone.

Between 300 and 350 attendees from around Europe, North America and beyond, will gather during three days at the Fabra i Coats, a creation factory that the Barcelona City Council puts at the disposal of the conference organizers. Close to fifty speakers and panelists will share their thoughts and best practices with an audience made out of coworking space operators, facility managers, real estate pundits as well as city councils representatives, public development agencies, universities or startup incubator managers. All are interested to learn more about Coworking as a plateform able to address critical challenges of our time such as boosting entrepreneurship and innovation, making the independent workforce stronger or to investigate the future of working at the digital age.

World class speakers are already confirmed : Todd Heiser (Gensler and 1871 Coworking space in Chicago), Michael Karimov (Work Station, Moscow), Ashley Proctor (Creative Blueprint, Toronto), Ricard Faura (Government of Catalonia, Barcelona) Christoph Falhe (Betahaus, Berlin), Jean-Baptiste Roger (La Fonderie, Paris), the mayorship of Milan, to name a few of them… Many more are to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Early Bird registration is now open. The number of Early Bird tickets is limited.

This year, Global Enterprise partnered with ARD (Economical Development of the Paris-Ile de France Region) and La Fonderie (Paris Regional Digital Agency) to organise a three days long event.

All the practical informations and the program (in construction) is now available the Coworking Europe 2012 Conference’s official website here

As last year in Berlin, we expect great speakers/panelists from Europe and beyond, with different backgrounds and experience.

During the three days of conference, we will try to assess the various dimensions of the Coworking movement, as of today. We will underline the role of Coworking as a driver of change for the economy and the society. Most and foremost, attendees will have the opportunity to share best practices with other owners and community managers of Coworking spaces operating in more than 30 countries, with an expected number of 300 participants in total.

Early bird registration, dedicated for the Coworking Community, is now open.

As this conference is growing, the logistics is becoming heavier, this year, we won’t be able to provide an unlimited number of Early Bird seats.

Only a limited seats are available under the Early Bird conditions.

Early Bird registrations will be possible until July 31st.

Registration will work based on a “first arrived, first served” model. So, the sooner you will book, the higher the chances are that you will be able to benefit of the Early bird conditions.

Besides the wonderful spirit and the incredible energy we experienced during these outstanding three days, one strong impression remains from all the discussions we had : Coworking is becoming huge !

Coworking to shape the coming decade

More than 220 people, originating from the five continents, gathered in Berlin.

If Europe was the most represented, an important North American delegation attended the event, alongside representatives from Asia, South America and the Middle East.

Coworking is not marginal anymore nor is it a western phenomenon. Coworking is a solution which naturally and independently arises in different locations of the world. It sounds like a common answer to emerging needs in the our fast changing economies and societies.

Accordingly, my conviction is that coworking is not only there to stay and grow. Coworking will be one of the most impactful trend that will shape the coming decade.

Similarities with the expansion of the internet

As a matter of facts, the short history of Coworking reminds us of some identical milestones of the early days of the internet.

Internet, just like Coworking, emerged out of a handful of isolated initiatives led by small groups of people motivated by different purposes. One day, those actions converged. The US Army was investigating the way to build a resilient communication and information infrastucture which wouldn’t be interrupted in the case of a damage in the physical network. Besides, universities had the need for a more convenient way to share knowledge and documents between academics. Many usages popped up with time. One day, Tim Berners Lee and other pioneers managed to connect everything. The internet, as we know it, was born.

The coworking movement surfaced, according to some consensus, simultaneously, in San Francisco and London. In 2005, developers in the Bay Area had a need for a new location to meet and get rid of the burden that was working out of a coffee shop. In London, the initiators of The Hub network, wanted to set up a platform and a community for social entrepreneurs. In the meantime, other players around the world had the idea to create – either as a side project, as a non for profit association or as a regular business – open platforms where nomad workers could drop in, either . One day, all these independent communities acknowledged they were part of a bigger one : coworking.

The common name and the values shared by the coworking promoters helped to build bridges between coworking spaces on the national and on the international level. In a way, the shared values of coworking (openness, collaboration, innovation, entrepreneurship, freedom, sustainability,…) are the TCP/IP and HTMLof the coworking movement, the common understanding allowing the nodes to connect with one another.

a new way of working in the 21st century

Both, the internet and coworking, have grown thanks to the support of free, verry committed and value driven people.

Nevertheless, nowadays, as Alex Hillman puts it, coworking is not anymore in the hands, solely, of altruistic entrepreneurs or associations, although their role as pioneers is and will remain critical (just as the role of the “sharing driven” open source developers remain critical for the improvement and the strengthening of the internet).

In the coming future, I expect Coworking to be more understood as a “new way of working”, a new way to set up inspirational working environment based on human factors, people openness and a collective will to achieve exciting things as well as to enjoy a meaningful professional life.

A matter of style and tastes

Alex Hillman compares the broadening scope of styles in coworking spaces with the variety we have in music. Individuals can enjoy jazz more than classical, listen to pop instead of esoteric… We all know these different styles belong to a bigger thing which is music.

I fully agree. I would add that tastes change.

I can, one day, be in a mood where I will be keen to listen to a rap. The day after, I could be looking for an opera soundtrack. Just as I will pick an Italian restaurant, one day, and go for a Japanese combo the day after…

Accordingly, the challenge of the multi-membership (individuals being members of a bunch of different coworking communities) could possibly arrive on the agenda of the coworking community, as well.

Coworking answering different challenges of our time – A list

So, why will coworking become a structuring trend of the coming decade ?

According to me, due to the economical, cultural and societal shifts of the current time… Here, is a list of reasons, I see,, partly inspired by the conference’s speaches :

The rise of the independent workforce

As the Emergent Research study showed during the Coworking Europe 2011 conference, the rise of the independent workforce is structural (at least, within the western world). Even more striking, the majority of the independent workers and entrepreneurs choose to become independent. They will need locations to meet, work and network.

New open innovation models

The technology is getting every day more complex. Innovation cycles shorten. Big companies are always more risk averse. Most of them can’t dance in a time of agility. Innovation is already coming from the outside, especially from startups and creative individuals. As the Otto Group company said, during the conference, coworking spaces can both play a role as trends watchers and serve as a bridge between innovators and big organisations.

The quest for a new corporate contract and for new corporate values

Not working “for” but working “with”. “Consider employees or freelances not as a ressrouce but as partners”, underlined Mutinerie. The economy is becoming more and more collaborative. So business organisations will (cfr Seats2meet presentation as well). Again, coworking sounds like the perfect platform/ecosystem to transform a human organisation into a more collaborative platform.

The integration of the GenY

The “twenty something” are turning their back to the traditional corporate model. They intend to be respected. They don’t tolerate to be yelled at by a boss just for the reason he or she is the boss… Nowadays, the perfect spot for them to work seems to be… a coworking space.

The emergence of a global “startupsphere”

We are at an age of rising micro-multinationals. What do you do, if you are a startup and need to expand abroad fast to breakeven, according to your business plan ? Ok, you can browse the web. But beyond that? What if you know no-one outside the walls of your city ? The coworking network is a community of communities where you will be able to get, at least, advices and connections, if not support. Nice to say, less obvious to achieve, however, warned us Liu Yan, from Shanghai (Xindanwei). Building a business, locally or internationally, is first a matter of trust building and, more and more, of sharing. Start with that. With respect to that, the coworking movement can help.

Need to bring the creative economy in cities and to interconnect local ecosystems

Coworking spaces create local ecosystems wich help to connect organically many players in a given town or city, much more efficiently than many other public intiatives with the same aim. The Berlin city, for instance, confirmed its interest regarding the impact coworking can have in the bridging of the local communities.